Press Releases

Jackson, Pfleger, and other local activists to rally with the Faith Community of St. Sabina and Rainbow PUSH Coalition in effort to stop the violence July 12

Chicago, Illinois – The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. founder of Rainbow PUSH Coalition, is teaming up with the Faith Community of St. Sabina pastor Fr. Michael Pfleger to lead a7:00pm rally on Chicago’s West Side Friday night to denounce the peaking incidents of violence that are ravishing the city’s south and west sides.

The two iconic civil rights and community leaders will gather with other community activists along with the Faith Community of St. Sabina to address the growing concerns of urban violence that impact struggling communities in both the short- and long-term. Both Jackson and Pfleger, along with other speakers during the rally, are expected to address the long-term issues that come with prevailing gun violence in urban communities, including the impact it has on job creation, education, public health, and community economic strength.

“Violence needs to be looked at as a public health issue,” Rev. Jackson said in a recent statement concerning the circumstances prompting the rally. “This is a public health state of emergency due to its impact on the community. It affects not just those who are shot, but those that must care for those that are doing both the shooters and the wounded. It impacts our families and communities with concerning from adequate health care to adequate job opportunities and from broken families to the prison industrial complex.

“We also need to finish the fight on the War on Poverty focus due to the growing disparities between those that have in America and those looking to get ahead in urban America. This is not just a Chicago issue. This is a national crisis.”

Fr. Pfleger will also address the recent veto override of the Illinois General Assembly which effectively put in law the new concealed carry legislation.

After the speakers address those gathered at the rally, the event will conclude with St. Sabina’s weekly community walk to protest urban violence.